If there is one thing animal shelters all have in common, it is barking dogs. But the Pender County Animal Shelter has something else; the Friends of the Pender County Animal Shelter. Their mission is quite simple: When the shelter needs something, they try to fill the need.
"Every county in North Carolina needs to get a group like this,” said Pender County Animal Shelter manager Darlene Clewis. “It would be a good idea to have a group like this to back up their animal control and things that they do, like the Pet Finder website. They handle that and that really helps us.”
Sue Lorusso of the Friends of Pender County Animal Shelter said, "Our main mission is to help Pender County Animal Control lower the euthanasia rate. Every animal that gets adopted out saves the county with money to start with, with medication and burial costs."
Pender County is quite large - 933 square miles. Most of it is rural, and unfortunately the shelter gets a lot of drop-offs from locals and vacationers. "We get a lot of people who think it is fun to have a pet on vacation then they just leave it behind. That puts the animal control officers in a rough situation because they have to cover the whole county and take care of adoptions and the shelter," explained Lorusso.
Recently, Pender County Commissioners approved the funding for two fulltime animal control officers. Applications are currently being accepted.
The euthanasia rate has decreased 11 percent at the Pender County Animal Shelter since May 1st.

Disclaimer: Comments posted on this, or any story are opinions of those people posting them, and not the views or opinions
of WWAY NewsChannel 3, its management or employees. You can view our comment policy here.